Machine for treating explosive material.



A. HAM. l

MAcHlNE Foa m xPLoslvE MATERIAL.

v APPLICATI DEC.17, 19|]- 1,299,560, l Patented Apr. 8, 1919.

. 2 SHEETS-SHEET-l- 47m/MEM' v APPLICATION FILED DEC. 171 19|]- PatentedApr. 8, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W/TNESS.'

rus mums uns co., Maremma, wAsmNamN. n. :4

ARTHUR J'. MOXI-LAM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MACHINE FOR TREATING- EXPLOSIVE MATERIAL.

Application led December 17, 1917. Sera1No.i207,435.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. MoxHAM, asubject of the King of Great Britain, residing at New York city, countyof New York, and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Machines for Treating Explosive Material, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and-exact vdescription, reference being hadto theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

In the manufacture of explosives, a frequent cause of accidentalexplosions is the sparking that sometimes occurs in and around moving'machinery due to friction between the parts.- The object of my inventionis to prevent sparking in such moving machinery and thereby eliminateone important cause of accidental explosions and thus` render themanufacture of explosives more nearly absolutely safe.

The result sought is accomplished by immersing all parts of themachinery in which sparking may be apprehended, such as bearings,gearing, or other intermeshing, rolling or sliding parts, in water orother suitable non-spark-propagating liquid and by constructing thewearing parts of material which will be self-lubricating and will not beinjuriously affected by continuous immersion in the liquid.

Examples of constructions embodying my invention are shown in theaccompanying drawings, in Which- Figure l is a plan view of a shellcarrying carriage on its track in a trough.

Fig. 2 is a cross section through same, and

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section.

Fig. 4L is a side elevation of a mixer.

Fig. 5 is a more or less diagrammatic end View of same.

Fig. -6 is a plan view of one of the gear pits.

The carriage a of Figs. l, 2 and 3 is mounted on wheels b, which travelon rails c embedded in a concrete or `other waterproof trough d, theside walls of which extend up to above the tops of the wheels b. Asocketed projection c depending from the bottom of the car is engaged bya plug 7 on the chain g, which travels longtudinally through the trough(l. The chain g is carried by one or more wheels h which travel on aniron rail z' embedded in the bottom of the trough.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 8, 1919.

All bearings and other parts needing lubrication are constructed of aself-lubricating material which will not be affected by immersion in thewater with which the trough is filled. to about the level .9c-m. I

prefer to make these parts of brass containing pressed plumbago, theylubrication of which is not effected by the water.

It will be observed that all intermeshing or coacting parts the relativemovement of which might, under ordinary conditions, produce frictionfrom which a spark might be developed, are under the'water level and' itis therefore impossible to develop a spark.

In Figs. 4:, 5 and 6 is represented a mixer 70 such as is used in themanufacture of ammonium nitrate. The stationary drum m is mounted upon arotating shaft n, which carries, within the drum, two spirals 0 and p,

one spiral 0 being outside the other p and 75 reversely arranged so thatthe material being mixed is fed in one direction by one spiral and inthe other direction by the other spiral. The shaft a is carried at itsopposite y ends by solid bearing wheels r, each of which rests upon a.pair of smaller supporting wheels s. A relatively small driving gearwheel at .each end of the mixer is 'in driving engagement with a largegear wheel u on the shaft n. Rotation of gear t rotates the gear u andshaft n andk operates the spirals as described. After the material hasbeen properly mixed it can be taken out through van opening in the lowerpart of the drum, which is closed at other times by a slide fw. The drummay be charged through a similar opening in the upper part of the drumhaving a similar slide y.

Wheels s, gears t and driving connections therefor are located in pitso. sents the desirable water level for the apparatus described, allparts of which likely to produce sufficient friction to cause a sparkbeing thus immersed in water.

z-e repre- The specific construction shown and described illustrateknownmachines modified to adapt them to be so far immersed in water as toavoid the possibility of sparks produced by the friction of coactingparts. The invention is not only adapted, without involving anycomplication of mechanism, to those machines in which such parts areexposed and in dangerous proximity to the explosive material undergoingtreatment, but

it is also adapted to those machines in which the actuating mechanism isdriven from the top, such machines readily lending themselves, usuallywith some advantage in the way of simplicity of construction, to such,alteration as would be involved in locating such mechanism below theleveloftheexplosive materials, whereby7 as in the examples herein given,it is practicable to immerse such mechanism in water. s

VIt will be understood that vin specifying immersion in a body of liquidI do not mean tobe confined to anything in the nature of a pool of waterconiined within a trough or the like, it being evident that a currentvof water flowing horizontally, or dropping vertically, or continuouslysprayed, or otherwise applied, so as to maintain friction-producingpartsY so covered with water as to prevent the formation or propagationof sparks, accomplishes the same results in substantially the same wayand is an equivalent of the specific and preferred embodiment of theinvention herein mo-re particularly described.

Having now fully described my invention,

what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

l. In machines for treating explosive material, the combination with themeans for directly operating upon such material, of actuating mechanismfor saidV means, and abody of liquid in which are immersed parts of saidactuating mechanism whose frictional action would` otherwise tend ,toproduce sparks.

2."v In machines for treating explosive material, the combination withthe actuating mechanism, of a spark-extinguishing liquid inwhich areimmersed parts of said actuating mechanism whose frictional action wouldotherwise tend to produce sparks, said Copies of this patent may beobtained forrfve cents each, by addressing the Commissionero Patents, n

partsv being composed of self-lubricating ma-I terial. Y

3. In machines for treating explosive materiahrthe combination withactuating mechanism comprising parts which if exposed would tend bytheir frictional action to produce dangerous sparks, of a body ofsparkextinguishing liquid immersing said parts whose level is below thatpart ofthe mechanismy which is in direct contact with the explosivematerial.

4, In a machine for treating explosive material, the combination withactuating mechanism comlprising parts whose Vfrictional action would,if'exposed, tend Vto produce dangerous sparks, of Va body of water inwhich said parts are immersed, said parts being composed of brasscontaining" pressed plumbago. Y y

5. In machines forv treating explosive material, the combination withthe means for directly operating upon such materiahof actuatingmechanism for saidmeans, and a body of liquid maintained in contact withparts of said actuating, mechanism whose frictional action wouldproducesparks and maintainedout of contact with the means for directlyoperating upon the material.

6. In machines for treating explosive ma- Ateriahthe combination withthe means for directly acting upon such material, of actuating mechanismfor said means all the parts of-which whosev frictional action wouldproduce sparks are arranged entirely below the level of said' means, anda body of liquidin which said parts are completely immersed.

In testimony of which invention, I have Y hereunto set my hand, at NewYork, N. Y., on this ith day of December, 1917.

'ARTHUR J. Mo'xi-LM.`

Washington, D. C.

